Using ACT! OLE Library

[Woolie Willie]

I need to access an ACT! database from CVI. I have registered the OLE with actreg.exe and gotten a message that actole.dll was successfully registered. Yet, when I bring up the Create Activex Automation controller. I only see ACTEventOLE control module, which is not the one that I want to use. I want to use the ACTOLE to access the database file. It is not on the list of ActiveX Automation Servers. I have attached some of their documentation re: registering controls.

File Description
ACTOLE.DLL OLE library containing the ACT! OLE Database object.
ACTOLE.TLB Type library that contains functions within the ACT! OLE Database object. Methods contained in the
type library need to be used directly by Visual C++ developers. In Visual Basic type library functions
are handled automatically at run time.
ACTEVENT.OCX OLE event notification control module, used by third-party applications for receiving event notification.
An event is generated, for example, when the contact is changed in the Contact View.
ACTREG.EXE The ACT! Windows registry update utility. This utility can be run manually if necessary to register
ACT! OLE controls as a troubleshooting procedure.

The OLE Database object (ACTOLE.DLL) is an
OLE automation server with objects implemented as a Windows dynamic link library (DLL) of
methods and properties used to simplify communications between OLE programmable
languages and an ACT! database. The object is a Visual C++ programmed module using
internal buffers to move information to and from the database. To add or change information, fill
a buffer with the appropriate data, and then call a method to move the data into the ACT!
database. When information from the OLE Database object is requested, the client application
returns the buffered data. The ACTOLE.DLL makes calls into the ACT! database layer
ADAL.DLL. The ACTOLE.DLL and type library ACTOLE.TLB are installed with the ACT!
application and placed in the ACT folder.
The database object provided with ACT! 5.0 is incompatible with the databases from previous
ACT! releases.
ACTOLE.DLL OLE library containing the ACT! OLE Database object.
ACTOLE.TLB Type library that contains functions within the ACT! OLE Database object. Methods contained in the
type library need to be used directly by Visual C++ developers. In Visual Basic type library functions
are handled automatically at run time.
ACTEVENT.OCX OLE event notification control module, used by third-party applications for receiving event notification.
An event is generated, for example, when the contact is changed in the Contact View.
ACTREG.EXE The ACT! Windows registry update utility. This utility can be run manually if necessary to register
ACT! OLE controls as a troubleshooting procedure.

[mfukuchi]

From the documentation you included, it is not very clear what server you are supposed to get by registering ACTOLE.DLL or ACTEVENT.OCX. I am not able to reproduce this problem because I would have to obtain the licence to register the server. Please contact the provider for ACT! database for more documentation on the files, because what CVI does is that it finds all the servers registered in the system, and displays them in the list inside the wizard.

Mika Fukuchi
Application Engineer
National Instruments

[Woolie Willie]

Mika, they do give instructs for using it with Visual C++. They say to Add Class, From Type Library, and then chose actole.tlb. They say that this will generate all of the methods and props supported by the Database Object, which is the one I want to use. Please tell me how to use this tlb type library in CVI?

[Paul Rocca]

You use it the same way as any other ActiveX server, via the "Create ActiveX
controller" wizard
available on the Tools menu. It will provide a list of all the ActiveX
servers on your PC.
For my computer ACT seems to provide 2 servers, actAbout which provides
info, copyright stuff etc
and "ActEvent OLE Control Module" which seems to do all the useful stuff.
If you follow the wizard through it will do all the stuff and add them to
your project automatically.
You can then use the function panel from the Instrument menu same as any
other library thing.

Good Luck

Paul Rocca

Woolie Willie wrote in message
news:506500000005000000DDB70000-1031838699000@exchange.ni.com...
> Mika, they do give instructs for using it with Visual C++. They say
to
> Add Class, From Type Library, and then chose actole.tlb. They say
> that this will generate all of the methods and props supported by the
> Database Object, which is the one I want to use. Please tell me how to
> use this tlb type library in CVI?

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[Woolie Willie]

Paul, thanks for the comment. It is nice to see someone else is using CVI for CTI. I would like to export data that our system has manipulated back into ACT!. There is a bunch of OLE commands that let you manipulate the ACT! database directly, without loading the ACT! exe, but keeps all of the database files in the proper relationships.

"Developers can access and manipulate ACT! data using the Database class, also known as the
ACT! OLE Database object....Also,
the Database class provides developers with a set of tools in the form of OLE automation objects
with associated methods and properties.

Using with Visual C++
Many programmers who work with the Database object work with Microsoft Visual Basic. Hence,
most of the examples
in the documentation of the database object are designed for the Visual
Basic programmer. However, a type library is supplied and consequently, the integrated
development environment (IDE) of Microsoft Visual C++ can be used to automatically generate
prototypes for the object methods.
The following basic steps can help start use of ACT! automation libraries using Microsoft Visual
C++ 4.0 or later and Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) library. To use the Database object in an
application written using Visual C++, first create a wrapper class around the OLE objects
supported by the OLE Database object."

-From the ACT! Sdk User's manual. My understanding is that a Database Object should show on the installed ActiveX Servers List in CVI. I see the same ones that you do (actually I don't see about). Is there some way I can check to see if the control is installed from outside CVI? The ACT! supplied install program says that it installed AOK.

-Rich